W-t,/o 



The New Nevada 

What it is and what 
it is to be 



The Era of Irrigation 

AND THE 

Day of Opportunity 



Bv A. j. WELLS 




SAN FRANCISCO 



MDCCCC VI 



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FROM THE LATEST AUTHORITATIVE 
GOVERNMENT SURVEYS 

SHOWING RAIL & STAGE LINES l*||^Keeler 

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TH E NEW NEVADA 



The agricultural resources of Nevada deserve the attention 
of every man who tills the soil and who looks to the west for 
a home. It has been so long considered a mining region and 
its history has been so identified with the production of the 
precious metals that it has hardly been thought of as a farmers' 
land. Considerable attention has been paid to stock raising 
from an early date, but it was not until the general govern- 
ment undertook the construction of great irrigating works m 
Nevada that the interest of farmers was widely arrested, and 
inquiries began to be made about soil and climate and the range 
of production. It is our purpose to anticipate such inquiries 
as the homeseeker who does not know this inter-mountain region 
would naturally make, and to answer them honestly and as fully 
as possible. There is no wisdom in deception. Exaggerated 
statements react. Misrepresentation leads to disappointment and 
loss, and could not in the highest way serve the ends we seek, 
which is the development and settlement of the State by an 




Pasture Near Gardnerville 
3 




A Water-side Ranch at Lovelock 



agriciiltiiral population. The facts about Nevada's soil and 
climate, its irrigation waters, and its markets will make 
their way, and it is upon the facts here presented that we base 
our conviction of the rapid and permanent growth of the State. 



Nevada's New Era 



It is to be based upon agriculture. 
That there are new mining interests 
and continual developments which promise to eclipse the 
splendor of the ''bonanza" days, and which show how broad 
and rich is Nevada's mineral zone, but hastens the development 
of the State by attracting capital and interesting farmers who 
see in prosperous mining towns a promising home market. 

The American has vigor and adaptability; he knows a good 
thing when he sees it, and he is quick to act, and to-day Nevada 
is taking on new life. The wonderful mining developments 
unite in point of time with the digging of great canals and the 
taking up of irrigable tracts, and every branch of industry and 
achievement is feeling the pulse of new life. Soon great areas 
of wild land will be converted into diversified farms and orchards 
of fine fruit, and the plains and valleys of Nevada will be the 
homes of thousands of prosperous and enterprising farmers. 

Always the permanent growth of cities, of manufactures 
and of commerce rests back upon the land. When the country fills 



up with farmers and the homes of farmers ; when fields and 
orchards begin to yield support for the population, then the 
prosperity of towns and cities is assured. But in Nevada 
the extension of the farming interests waited upon the coming 
of an "irrigation age." It was useless to multiply small farms 
until water could be had to insure the growth of crops, and 
this in turn waited for government action. Convictions about 
the value of our arid lands had to grow ; the wisdom of arti- 
ficial irrigation had to make its way; the lessons of experience 
had to be conned; the Anglo-Saxon had to unlearn some 
prejudices against cloudless skies and scanty rainfall. We were 
accustomed to depend upon the bounty of the clouds ; all of our 
systems of laws, our customs and our traditions were based upon 
an ample rainfall, and had to do with drainage rather than 
irrigation. We were not used to dry and elevated plateaus, 
but to the valleys, the prairies, and the rolling country 
of the Middle West, and the hills of Ohio, Pennsylvania and 
New England. The habits and customs of a people are not 
changed in a day or a decade. It takes time. And when little 
by little, through long years, the value of irrigation had made 
its way into our convictions, and the general government was 
ready to take up the problem of supplying water for the arid 
lands, a new era was at hand. 




Sage tsrush Fields Near Carson City 
5 




An Indian Wickiup. 

Mnw Tf Annf^arc ^^^^ ^^^ cautioiied not to judge from 
now it /appears appearances. But the wife and mother- 
certainly the girls and boys who think of coming to this West- 
ern country, will want to know how it looks. For the average 
man who must earn a living for the family, scenery does not 
count. He wants to know what the soil will produce, and what 
a quarter section of it is worth, but to the woman who is to 
stay by the home and beautify it, however humble, by little 
adornments within, and a few flowers without, how the country 
looks will be a first question. 

Nevada is not attractive to the e3'e. It looks forbidding to 
those accustomed to summer showers, where grass covers every 
inch of soil, or forests weave their verdure over the hilltops. 
Here there are but few trees. The low hills and uncultivated 
plains are covered by the gray sage-brush, and this humble 
fragrant ''dusty miller" looking shrub helps to give the color 
key to the landscape. It is gray. There is much volcanic ash, 
and the appearance of a desert. 

But Nevada has a fascination of its own which is hard to 
analyze. The writer of these paragraphs made his first home 
in the Silver State, and is familiar with its gray hills and 
plains, and after many years the memory of it is full of sunshine. 
After 30 years I hark back to the clear skies, the genial climate, 
the pale high key of the landscape of Nevada. It is a land 




Mountain Lake, Upper Carson Basin 

apart, unique in its appearance, and I can testify to an interest 
in it which I am at a loss to define. They have a saying 
in Nevada that ''one who has once lived in it can never die 
unless he returns to it," and the saying has a deep root in 
the country itself. Its freedom, its larger life, its independence 
may help to explain the fascination, but it is certain that 
having lived here a few years one is rarely inclined to return 
to the older communities. 



Its Size 



The area of Nevada is 112,190 square miles, or over 
71,000,000 acres. This makes it more than 2,500 
square miles greater than the combined areas of Maine, New 
Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, 
Delaware, West Virginia, New Jersey and Rhode Island. 

It is only by such comparisons that we can realize the vast- 
ness of the region, and begin to measure its possibilities 'n 
mineral and agricultural wealth, and the population it may con- 
tain. At present the population does not exceed 90,000. 



Its Phvsical Asnert*; '^^^ ^^^^""^ Nevada Mountains 
Its ±-nysicai Aspects ^^^^ ^^^ western boundary of Neva- 
da for more than three hundred miles, and between that and the 
Rocky Mountains lies what is known as the Great Basin. It 
is rather a lofty plateau, the average elevation being more than 
4,000 feet above the sea. 

The general surface of Nevada is a table land, high enough 
to have a fine invigorating air as of mountain regions, but 
without the cold winters of the East, the blizzards of the North- 
west or even the snows of the higher altitudes of the West. 
It is traversed by low ranges of mountains, though separate 
peaks may reach from 9,000 to 12,000 feet. Between these inte- 
rior mountains lie valleys ranging from one mile to twenty-five 
miles wide, the most of them easily cultivated and wonderfully 
productive. 

These valleys are threaded by numerous rivers, the Truckee, 
Carson, Walker, Humboldt, Owyhee and others, and these val- 
leys, with their wealth of water constitute the chief agricultural 
resources of the State. There are several lakes of considerable 
size, and these receive the waters of the principal rivers. As 
they have no outlet to the sea, their level is maintained by evap- 
oration, a fact which suggests the extreme dryness of the air and 




East Fork of Carson River near Gardnerville 




Bridgeport Valley, East "Walker Basin 

means comfort at once for the man in the fields in summer, 
and for the invalid in the house. 

In the midst of the general grayness of volcanic ash and 
white sage, the fields of luxuriant alfalfa are wonderfully attract- 
ive, and the meadows and wheat fields and cultivated farms, 
with their groups of fruit or shade trees seem more homelike 
than in other lands. Wherever the desert has blossomed with 
the homes of men you feel the beauty the more deeply by contrast. 
Whatever is crude and wild in nature seems to be waiting for 
the home, and the touch of the human hand. This is as truly 
the land of the sun as California or Arizona, and what the 
valleys are in part, what the green Truckee Meadows are, what 
the thriving farms of Lovelock or the cool fragrant oasis of 
the railroad station at Humboldt are, these vast areas will be 
when the transforming water is led over them. Much of 
Nevada is called desert. We remember the word in the old 
school geographies, but the regions covered by that word in our 
boyhood days have long been corn and wheat countries, rich 
and beautiful from cultivation. 

11 



We all inherit some prejudices. Our ancestors came from 
humid regions, and began life in the East by hewing out 
the forests. When they began to move westward, they sought 
out the wooded lands, and they said with contidence, that "land 
that won't grow trees won't grow anything." They soon got 
over that. They learned that the prairie was rich, often better 
than the timbered lands. And we are learning that the desert 
is rich. We recall the fact that the ancient civilizations occu- 
pied the deserts of the old world — Egypt, Asia Minor, Syria, the 
classic lands of the Carthaginians and the Moors. "The glories 
of antiquity sprang from the heart of the desert" history says, 
and Utah and Colorado are examples in our day of arid lands 
made the home of prosperous thousands. Under volcanic ash 
Nevada miners are finding ledges of gold, and under the sage- 
brush or the gray waste of centuries farmers are discovering 
a wealth of soil, and rich harvests will presently transform 
<he whole aspect of the land. "Arid countries are always rich 
ountries when irrigated," and the reason is simple : the potash, 
lime, magnesia, and sulphuric acid has not been washed out 
of the soil. It is all here to make the fields gay with harvests 




Washoe Lake and the Sierra Nevada 
12 




Center Lake, Upper Carson Basin 



What It Will Grow 



You have not thought of the Silver 
State as a land for the farmer, but 
it is. The new Nevada will base its prosperity upon its agricul- 
ture. Miners come and go, but the land abides, and to the soil 
we must all go for our supplies of daily bread. The permanent 
prosperity of a State is louilt upon its agriculture, and the 
quality of its products is an index of its future development. 

It is very true that hardly more than a sample of what 
the soil and climate of Nevada can produce have been raised 
as yet, but at every great Exposition held for forty years enough 
has been on exhibition to show the quality which may be 
expected. Few people realize that Nevada touches the Colorado 
River at latitude 35 degrees, which crosses the State of South 
Carolina ; that Lincoln County can raise cotton, oranges and 
raisins, and that the first ripe figs reeived at the Columbian 
Exposition came from there in July, 1893. Further north the 

13 



colder winters give that nurture to the vegetable and flavor 
to the fruit that seems to be impossible in the warmer regions. 

Nevada has been called "an ash heap with streaks of silver 
through it," but as a matter of fact the territory within her 
borders has some of the richest soil upon the globe, and where 
it can be reached by an adequate water supply the crops are 
never-failing, the quality the finest and the yield far greater 
than in the rainy States. 

Like the Island of Sicily, which has raised wheat for 2,000 
years with almost no diminution in the yield, her soil is largely 
volcanic, and its strength has not been dissipated by the showers 
of ages, but lies ripening in the sun waiting for the plough. 

No country in the world yields to intense cultivation as 
does one with a volcanic soil under irrigation. 

The Cereals Nevada wheat is superior, with a full rich 

kernel and a clean bright straw, free from 

smut or rust. The average throughout the State is about 30 — 

perhaps 35 — bushels of wheat to the acre. The Experiment 








Highland Ditch, Truckee River 
15 




Alfalfa Field on New Irrigation Ditch 

Station Farm connected with the State University, has produced 
67 bushels per acre, and one man at Lovelock testifies that he 
once harvested 75 bushels to the acre on a field that had but 
one thorough irrigation. The demand is so great at home that it 
makes a better market than can be had by shipping out in compe- 
tition with other States. The mining camps scattered through the 
hills in every county, the logging camps and saw-mills, the big 
sheep and cattle ranges, consume much more than can be pro- 
duced, and Utah as well as California are drawn upon con- 
stantly. This is true not only of wheat and liour, but of all 
kinds of farm produce. 

I met Professor Gordon H. True of the faculty of the State 
University on the Experiment Farm in the edge of Reno, and 
saw his notes touching crops for the current year (1906). Wheat 
yielded, on their plots, from 45 to 55 bushels per acre; barley, 
53 to 58 ; oats, 99 to 123. Some experiments were made with 
winter barley without irrigation, the yield being 22 bushels. As 
the average for the country is but 14 bushels, the returns were 
considered good and worth the attention of farmers in localities 
where water is not available. 



16 




Field of Irrigated Potatoes, near Reno 



Seeds and Alfalfa seed is already furnished to the trade, 
^j. , , and onion seed of all the finest varieties could 

Vegetables j^^ furnished by the ton. Potatoes have more 
than a local celebrity, and from the nature of the soil, do 
exceptionally well. They have a reputation, even in California. 
Large quantities cross the mountains to Sacramento and San 
Francisco, and because their quality is superior and they ship 
well, many go to the Hawaiian Islands. Nevada potatoes have 
been described as "little bunches of meal done up in clean, 
bright sacks." Turnips here have the mountain flavor and all 
of the products of the soil are of superior quality. All kinds of 
garden vegetables are grown easily and abundantly. Every- 
thing that grows in a temperate climate grows readily in these 
elevated valleys and plateaus wherever water can be supplied. In 
the lower and central divisions of the Humboldt basin, hops 
yield heavily and corn, peas, beans and sweet potatoes do well. 
Yet it should be noted that corn is not grown commercially. 
This is due chiefly to the cool nights of summer, and to an 
occasional frost in mid-season. One thinks that "better farming" 
will produce corn successfully, and Professor Gordon H. True, 
of the Experiment Farm, says that "small areas put into corn 

17 



will, in the long run, prove profitable." He thinks the crop 
"sufficiently sure to justify its use as a silage crop," for dairy 
feeding, and adds that the Experiment Station is working for an 
early-developing corn. 

For hogs barley is commonly fed, but careful farming will 
produce corn for hardening pork for market almost anywhere 
in the State. 

Alfalfa where. Nowhere is a field of alfalfa so attractive 

Alfalfa is the great forage crop in Nevada, as else- 
in its vivid green and its luxuriant growth as amid the gray vol- 
canic ashes of these plains. And nowhere in the West is diversi- 
fied farming more profitable than in Northern Nevada. The pro- 
ducts of human labor in this field will always be in demand. 
Hard times may come, and buying may be greatly curtailed m 
other directions, but there is no stopping the demand for food. 
Cattle ranges do not yield forage all the year save in favored 
localities, and this creates a demand for hay. Alfalfa can be 
cut two and three times per year, and yields from 3 to 4 tons. 
In the stack it is worth from $5.00 to $8.00 per ton, and the 
rancher can count on $15 to $25 annual profit on each acre that 
he cultivates. In other crops grown the yield averages higher 
than in States farther East, even higher than in the Mississippi 
Valley, and in quality is superior. 




Alfalfa Field Near Gardnerville 
18 




Dayton, Lyon County 

Native Grasses Tli^ forage plans of this region are of two 
classes : one growing on moist valley lands 
and the other on dry sandy uplands. On the former will oo 
found bluejoint grass, burr clover, red top, Kentucky blue-grass, 
rush, squaw-grass and wild pea. On the uplands, plains and 
mountains the famous bunch grass of the west is found, grow- 
ing, as its name implies, in bunches or stools from 6 to 18 
inches high, its fine straw standing upright and loaded with 
seed. It possesses great fat-producing qualities. Here, too, 
grows the wild rye-grass, held in high estimation by the stock- 
man. It grows much taller than bunch-grass. Perhaps no other 
wild forage equals it for dairy pasturage. It is excellent food 
both summer and winter and produces milk and butter of the 
finest flavor and quality. 

Even the sage-plant is held in high esteem as a winter 
forage plant, and is eaten with great relish by all kinds of 
range stock. It is very nutritious and bears close grazing with- 
out injury. 

Breeders of fine animals and race-horse men have found that 
the nutritive quality of mountain hay and grain is far in 
excess of that raised in states having a lower general elevation. 

The Culture of the A study of the bulletins prepared by 

Sue'ar Beet ^^^ Agricultural Experiment Station 

° of the Nevada University shows the 

results of eight years' successive work, and demonstrates beyond 

19 




Little Valley, Truckee River Basin 

question that sugar-beets of high quality can be grown here, 
and grown in quantity in several sections sufficient for factory 
supply. In the Lovelock Valley alone it is reported that 20,000 
or 30,000 acres of rich and fertile land could be obtained for 
beet culture. In addition the water of the Humboldt is avail- 
able, and limerock is abundant nearby. Carson Valley has also 
a soil quite well adapted to beet culture, with good water and 
limerock. Mason Valley, the Truckee Meadows near Rerio, 
Ruby Valley in South Elko County, and Battle Mountain Dis- 
trict in Humboldt County are all reported on favorably by the 
careful scientists of the Experiment Station. Prof. N. E. Wilson 
of the State University, says our soils are all very strong in 
the elements of plant food necessary for beet growth. This, 
together with the almost cloudless sky and bright sunshine * * * 
makes this State an ideal section for beet production. Dr. H. W. 
Wilev, Chief Chemist of the United States Department of Agri- 
culture, says that "a large portion of the State of Nevada * * * 
lies within the thermal area suitable to beet culture. * * * 
Nevada should become a beet-producing State. The establish- 



20 




Young Apple Trees, Experimental Farm 

ment of this agricultural industry could not fail to be of immense 
benefit to the commonwealth. There is no other State in which 
the reports are more favorable. * * * The uniform excellence 
of the samples cannot be the result of accident, but must have 
been due to the favorable influences of Nevada's soil and 
climate." 

21 




Pears and Grapes, Hawthorne 
The Experiment Station submits a map (Bulletin No. 43) 
which shows the section of the State "where beets have been 
grown and where they may be expected to grow in great per- 
fection." It is only a question of a little time when this indus- 
try will be added to the attractions of Nevada for the farmer, 
and to the wealth of the State. 

22 










Apple Orchard Near Reno 

The filling up of the State will shortly provide a beet-sugar 
factory, and lands adapted to the culture of the beet will be 
cultivated for this profitable crop. 

Fruit Growing This industry is yet in its infancy here. 
Yet enough has been planted in a small 
way to demonstrate the success of fruit growing. Apples are 
remarkable for their quality and took first premium at New 
Orleans in 1885 and 1886, and at the Columbian Exposition m 
1893. They have fine form and color, superior flavor and good 
keeping qualities. Throughout a large portion of Northern 
Nevada conditions of soil and climate are suitable for the 
apple, and if right varieties are planted, orchards of this fruit 
in commercial quantities will prove very profitable. It is only 
necessary to choose the right locality and the marketable variety. 
I saw on the Experiment Farm four acres of apple trees three 
years old, as thrifty, as clean and bright of bark and as full of 
color in the leaf as could be produced anywhere, and I saw 
apples in Reno, produced about four miles out, that in size, in 
color and quality could not easily be excelled. There is a good 



23 




II 



Ranch in Carson Valley 

income in a hundred localities for the man who will plant apple 
orchards of the right kind, and in the right place, avoiding 
depressions into which the cold air drains. Pears, too, and 
plums, prunes, cherries, peaches and even apricots of the greatest 
excellence are raised. Thus far the culture has been chiefly 
along the base of the Sierra, but sheltered valleys in other parts 
of the State will produce the hardy fruits successfully, and there 
is a large demand for them right at home. 

All the Eastern varieties of grapes do well, and of the 
small fruits, currants, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries 
find their natural home here. The latter do especially well, 
being very prolific, finely flavored and of remarkable solidity. 
The home market for all that can be produced will always be 
good. 

All fruits here have a high color, owing to the sunshine, the 
altitude, and perhaps to certain mineral elements in the soil. 
There are localities in Nevada that will produce as fine an apple 
as can be grown, and no industry promises better if the place 
be chosen wisely, and the right apple planted. 

24 




Glenbrook, on Lake Tahoe 



In the dry air of the elevated region fungous diseases do not 
thrive, and the yield is excellent. Plant commercial varieties, 
produce a good article, pack them wisely, and the profit will 
take care of itself. 

Q 1, T? • • Large areas inNevada are suitable only for 

otOCk KaiSing stock ranges, and the number of cattle, 
sheeo, and Angora goats in Nevada is great. One company 
in the northeast corner of the State have perhaps 50,000 
breeding cattle and put up never less than 15,000 tons of 
hay for winter use. Much is left on the stalk, cured as it 
stands in the field, where it is just as useful and more con- 
venient. The work of this vast ranch requires about 500 
saddle horses and 150 work horses. 

Sheep are also raised in great numbers in Nevada, and the 
Angora goat is at home in the hills. It is prolific, hardy, cares 
for itself in summer, and in winter requires only a shed open 
to the south, and a little fodder or rough forage. It is more 
intelligent than the sheep, and defends itself from dogs. The 
mutton is good, the pelt is used for glove-making and the mohair 
commands a good price, so that a fiock of goats is profitable. 

25 




Cattle in Pasture near Gardnerville 



This industry has long been prosecuted here and Nevada 
has some of the finest grade Angoras in the United States. 

''Things never looked better with us," said Governor Sparks 
of Nevada, in an interview. "Of course we have no corn out 
in Nevada to feed cattle, but the alfalfa that we are raising there 
is about as good as corn, and with a little oil-meal to finish 
with we can produce as good beef as can be had in the corn belt 
districts. Range feed is plentiful with us this season and the 
owners of range cattle are in good shape all over that country. 
We are some distance from the eastern markets, but in recent 
years there has sprung up on the Pacific coast a good demand 
for all kinds of meats. But a good many cattle and a con- 
siderable number of sheep raised in Nevada are now being 
shipped to Kansas City market every year, and when better 
shipping facilities can be had more will go there. Alfalfa is the 
green feed with us and blue-grass grows there as well as in Mis- 
souri. Of course all these feeds are raised under irrigation and 
wherever water can be had we can raise anything in Nevada." 
If it be said that the stock ranges are generally occupied, 
this should be kept in mind : that as lands come under irriga- 

27 




Alfalfa Fields, Upper Carson Valley 

tion the alfalfa field will become the chief reliance of the stock- 
grower, and fat cattle will go from the field and the stable, 
rather than from the range. That is to say, the methods of 
soiling — of cutting and feeding — rather than of pasturing, will 
prevail. What the farm produces will be fed to the cattle, and 
the farm will become a manufactory, turning raw material into 
food for the market. There is money in it. This will be the 
stock-raising of the future — and of Nevada. 

The Creamery Industry Today no business in the State 
in Nevada ^^ Nevada ofifers better induce- 

ments for large and permanent 
revenue than the creamery. It is a business that is not 
overdone in any region. The demand for dairy products m 
the State alone cannot be met by the four or five cream- 
eries now in the State, and hundreds of tons of butter are 
shipped into the State from Northern California and from Utah. 
The industry is in its infancy and although it is being developed 
there are numerous valleys in the State within easy reach of 
transportation facilities which can profitably support one or 
two first-class creameries. The very conditions which give Ne- 
vada beef its wide reputation for grain, flavor and texture, 
namely: Sunshine, alfalfa and natural bunch-grass, are ideal con- 

29 



> 



%$'• 

^ 




clitions for practical and successful dairying. Nevada creamery 
butter to-day demands and brings from two to three cents more, 
upon the California market, than most of the native product. 
Analysis shows it to be above the average in the requirements 
of chemical composition. 

This is also true of the dairy butters, which compare favor- 
ably with those of the Elgin district, and the noted Connecticut 
Valley. 

There is room for much expansion of this industry in 
Nevada, and as lands come under the irrigating ditch, the 
dairies will multiply. Feed — the alfalfa fields — good pasture, 
mountain water and a desirable temperature, are factors in this 
industry, and they are here. Ihere is no quicker and surer 
way of "getting a start" in a new country. Alfalfa is quickly 
grown and with a few cows an income is at once secured. 

The Nevada Experiment Station will, at all times, be pleased 
to give information concerning this industry in its several phases. 



The Experiment 
Farm 



This is noticed in connection with the 
University on another page, but we 
want to call attention to the value of 




Main Truckee Concrete-lined Canal 

.31 




Percheron Work Team, Experiment Farm 

this practical school of the farmer. The settler need not experi- 
ment. He cannot afford to. This little farm, managed by experts 
on scientitic principles, will do it for him. Here time is given to 
study, to testing soils and seeds, grains and grasses, fruit and 
roots, cows and horses, for Nevada soil and climate. The 
cultivation is thorough. I never saw better. The alfalfa, just 
cut and cocked up, had a floor clean as a pavement, and not a 
weed was in the hay. The orchard was a model of cleanliness, 
good tilth and fine growth. The Percheron horses were bred 
for the farm and the Holstein cows were magnificent examples 
of what the farmer wants in his field. The settler will do well 
to keep in touch with this institution. It is just on the edge 
of Reno and exists to help the men who are to till the soil of 
the State. Visit it ; ask of it information. 



Irrigation 
In Nevada 



This is the most important feature of the 
agricultural life of the State, and the far- 
mer's interest in Nevada turns about the 
work v/hich the Reclamation Service is doing. The agricultural 
development of Nevada may be said to begin with the irrigation 
works of the general government. These show the faith of the 
government in the soil and climate of Nevada, and they make 
possible an era of small farms. With the advent of the 40 and 

33 




Drop and Take-out in S Line Canal 

80 acre farmers we can look for a large increase of population 
and a great change in the appearance of large districts of country. 

Our Irrigation In an address at Reno, May 19, 1903, Presi- 
President ^^"^ Roosevelt spoke pertinent and forceful 

words at the right time. His speech shows 
that he saw the agricultural future of Nevada in clear light: 

"And now here in Nevada a new future opens to you 
because of the energy, the foresight, and the farsighted intelli- 
gence of those who have recognized the absolute need of using 
for tillage of your fields the waters that annually run to 
waste. (Applause.) It would be difficult to find in all the 
United States a locality better fit to serve as an object lesson 
in the need of irrigation and the use of it than this particular 
locality (applause), and I don't think of recent years anv 
Congress has put upon the statute books of the republic a law wiser 
in its promises and its performances than the irrigation law 
enacted a year ago. (Applause.) Under that law the National 
Government has come to the aid of the States and of individ- 
uals, and associations of individuals within the States, in seeking 
to utilize, for the benefit of the home-maker, the immense 
possibilities that lie in irrigated agriculture. As we all know, 
when you can really apply irrigation, rain becomes an indifferent 
substitute for it ; and I think — in fact I am sure — that no State 
will profit more in the future, in the immediatet future, in the 

35 




Flume Across Carson River above Leetville 

next decade, or the next few decades, than Nevada will by irri- 
gation. (Applause.") Your mines and grazing ranges have been 
your main standbys in the past. Without in any way minimizing 
the importance of your mines, and of the mines from time to 
time discovered in the State, and without in any way minimiz- 
ing what can be done in stock raising, I yet feel that hereafter the 
most certain elernent of strength in the State will be the irrigated 
agriculture. 

"I think that there lies your great future, and I am as 
certain as that I stand here that Nevada's growth in population, 
in wealth, in all that is based upon population and wealth, will 
hereafter go on apace as the possibilities of irrigated agriculture 
are opened more and more widely before you. 

"The State and Nation can each do its part. It is 
indispensable that we should act through the agencies of govern- 
ment on certain points, notably when such a question as this 
important one of irrigation is concerned, for we have, in order 
to secure the best resuliis, to deal with so many interests on 

37 



u s oeoiooiCAi &URVCI 



MCCLAMATlON SCRVloe 




Map of the Truckee- Carson Project 

SO large a scale that there must be action through that asso- 
ciation of all of us which we call government." 

What the Government The first work of the government 
Is Doinff engineers was the construction of 

° what is known as the "Truckee- 

Carson Irrigation Project." This is located in Western Nevada. 
The waters of the two rivers, the Carson and the Truckee, run 
to waste in the early summer, and are lost in the inland lakes 
or sinks by evaporation. The scheme of the engineers provides 
for turning the waters of one river to supplement the flow of the 
other, the flood-waters of the Truckee being turned into large 
reservoirs on the Carson River. The total storage capacity of 
these reservoirs will be 1,375,000 acre-feet, from which can be 
drawn annually, if needed, not less than 830,000 acre-feet. By 
"acre-feet" the engineers mean water to cover so many acres 
one foot deep. The plan contemplates the reclamation of 
350,000 acres, so that the water supply is ample. 



39 



At present this system of irrigation is completed to the 
extent of being ready to deliver water to about 60,000 acres of 
land, of which some 12,000 acres are being actually irrigated. 
There are on the land 300 bonafide settlers, and many more have 
filed on land but have not yet occupied it. An additional 30,000 
acres will be ready before the end of 1907, the delay being due 
to the lack of labor and the difficulty of procuring construction 
materials. 

Government The faith of the government is thus shown 
Guarantee ^" ^^^ worth of Nevada for agriculture, and 

behind the man who comes to farm these 
lands stands the honor of the nation. There is no speculation; 
there will be no shortage of water, and every condition invites 
the confidence and co-operation of the home-seeker. The gov- 
ernment has entered upon the greatest work of the kind it has 
ever undertaken and its success is absolutely assured. 

But it will take time. Several years will be required 
to demonstrate the wisdom of the undertaking. Meantime the 
land is being taken up, and under conditions which assure the 
farmer of fair treatment and prevent at once extortionate rates 
for water or monopoly of land. The farm unit under the 
Truckee-Carson project is 80 acres. This means that this is all 
that the government will furnish water to for an indiv'dual 
owner. But the new settler will be protected. His neighbor 
cannot steal his water supply, as a Government official will have 
charge of the apportioning. The flow of the river will cause him 
no anxietv for his later needs, for the reservoirs above will take 
care of that. He need concern himself simply with the dis- 
tribution of water on his own fields. This is an almost ideal 
condition. Compared with the haphazard farming where the 
vagrant clouds afford moisture, this is certainty, the farmer 
being delivered, under these clear skies, from all care about the 
weather. 

The intending settler should note two or three things : 

1. That the cost of water is not arbitrarily fixed, but is 
based upon the cost of preparing the irrigating works. This 
has been done in the most substantial manner, with a view 
to reducing the cost of maintenance to the lowest figure. The 
actual cost of the system only is spread upon the land. 

2. The government expects this original outlay to be paid 
by the settler. While time is given, without interest, yet the 
instalments must be paid regularly or no title will be given to 
willing to learn. Under the direction of experts the man 

41 




Birdseye View of Truckee-Carson Irrigation Project 

the land. Failure to pay any two subjects the entry to cancella- 
tion and forfeits money paid. 

3. The Reclamation Service will advise men who have 
no experience in the use of water for irrigating, and who are 
without practical knowledge will stand as good a show as others, 
and all questions of how and when to irrigate and what and when 
to plant will be answered. We were assured at headquarters at 
Hazen that the experts of the service would stand by the settler 
and aid him in starting right. 

An Experiment Farm has been set apart and will show in 
object lessons what can be done and how to do it. Attention 
will immediately be given to growing trees for use on farms, 
to determine the kind best suited to this region. Trees for wind- 
breaks, for shade and fuel, will quickly change the face of the 
country. 

The lands to be irrigated in the Carson Sink 
Valley are in the main sandy loams -with some 
volcanjc ash and fine silt deposited of old in 

still water. Here was the Lake Lahontan of a past geologic age. 

and all the land designed for irrigation is good and productive, 

as shown by farms in the valley which have been cultivated for 

more than forty years. 



Character of 
Lands 



42 




Walker River, Lower Mason Valley 

The general conditions are those of Salt Lake Valley, Utah, 
and the crops produced there will thrive here. 



Extent of 
Public Lands 



About 70 per cent is public land, subject 
to entry under the homestead law, and the 
balance is in private ownership. But all pri- 
vate lands not now under irrigation will be placed on the market, 
the valuations ranging from $2.50 to $10.00 per acre. 



Homestead ^"^ unmarried person over twenty-one years 

Ricrht«; °^ ^^^' ^^ ^"^ head of a family, who is, or 

° has declared intention to become, a citizen 

of the United States, who has not used his or her homestead 
right, or who is not the owner of 160 acres of land, can file on 
any one of these tracts. 

Title to land cannot be acquired until all payments for water 
have been made. 

Residence must be established on land within six months 
after filing thereon, and must be continuous thereafter. 

43 




Washoe Lake, Truckee River Basin 



Private Lands supply will be charged for water supply 
These being purchased with a view to water 
exactly as the public lands, the fixed charge by the government 
being based on the actual cost of supplying reservoirs, canals,, 
maintenance and operating expenses. 



Cost of Water 



The charge fixed by the Secretary of the 
Interior is $26 per acre, including all 
expenses for maintenance and operation for ten years. Pay- 
ments are made yearly at the rate of $2.60 per acre for ten 
years, without interest. Title will be given when the last pay- 
ment is made, at the end of ten years, or when a major portion 
of the land is paid for the system will pass to the owners of the 
irrigated lands and be maintained at their expense under such 
organization as may be acceptable to the Secretary of the Interior. 



Cost of Land 



In the case of public lands, the charge is for 
water alone, but government fees for filing 
are the usual ones, being $8 for eighty acres, payable at time of 
filing. Private lands and the lands of the Central Pacific 
Railway Company's grant will cost $26 per acre for water, plus 



45 




Tamarack Lake, Carson Basin 

the cost of the land, which may be $2.50 per acre or $14. That 
is to say, a piece of railroad land may be worth when irrigated 
$60 an acre. In such case the railroad company's price would 
be as follows : $26 an acre will be subtracted for water and $10 
an acre for cost of preparing the land for irrigating and the 
balance of $60, viz., $14, will go to the company as the actual 
price of their land. This sum is payable in four equal bien- 
nial installments, with 6 per cent interest on deferred payments. 

Individual The limit of an individual's holding of irri- 
Holdine"S gable land is 80 acres, and entries are limited 

° to from 40 to 80 acres. This will seem small 

to many Eastern men, but irrigation means intensive farming. A 
small farm, well tilled, is good practical sense. In Utah, in the 
great valleys about Logan, Ogden and Salt Lake City the average 
size of a farm is fifteen acres and the owners are very pros- 
perous. With similar climate and soil conditions Western Ne- 
vada farmers will find 40 acres enough for comfort and 80 acres 
actual luxury. 

47 




Portal of West End of Tunnel, Truckee Canal 



Irrigation Not New 



Irrigation began in Nevada a 
little over fifty years ago when 
the rush to the gold mines of California brought thousands 
over the plains and deserts. Where the overland trails met and 
followed the natural waterways trading-posts were established. 
The posts on the mountain streams on the eastern slopes of the 
Sierra were especially prosperous. The creeks were easily diverted 
to flood the adjoining lands, and vegetables, hay and grain 
brought such fabulous prices that many turned their attention 
to farming. 

Later the lands along the main rivers were taken up and 
irrigated by means of simple ditches. In all of the valleys so 
much land is now under irrigation that the summer flow is not 
sufficient for present needs. Storage of the flood waters and a 
better system of distributing canals are necessary to the reclama- 
tion of the irrigable area, and these are planned for in the 
Truckee-Carson project. 

Examples of irrigation can be seen as practiced by the 
Indians to-day on the Walker River Reservation in Southwest- 
ern Nevada. The Piutes have produced about $6,000 worth of 
alfalfa yearly, and such farming as they do is by irrigation. 



49 



wm. 



■U 



€ i 



■•* 'a 



'iW 



'0\ 



l^ll 




«?* 



i 




■#r 






i 





Schurz Station, Nevada and California R. R. 



One of the oldest settled valleys in the State is Mason 
Valley in Lyon County. Here irrigation has long been practiced 
and the little valley, perhaps 20 miles long, is full of prosperous 
homes. Smith Valley, a little further south, is also privately 
irrigated. 

So that the Truckee-Carson project is not an experiment, 
and the man from humid regions need not be afraid of irrigation 
as if it were a new thing under the sun. It is the oldest method 
of farming. 

We anticipate some questions which will be asked, and 
answer them fully, but briefly. 



Questions and 
Answers 



Are these reclaimed lands isolated? 

No. Hazen is on the main overland 

line of the Southern Pacific, with a popu- 
lation of 300. Fallon is the county seat, with nearly 1000 people. 
It is reached by a short branch of the Southern Pacific. Post- 
offices are located at Leetville. St. Clair and Hill. 

Is there alkali in the soil? 

Not in harmful quantity, and its use is guarded against by 
a complete system of drainage. 



51 




Is there any hardpan? 

No. The soils are very deep and uniform. 

Is cultivation difficult? 

Not at all. The soil is pliable and easily worked. 

What is the native vegetation? 

Sage brush covers most of the lands. It does not indicate 
alkali, but is an evidence of fertile soils. It is readily dragged 
down and generally out of the ground by a team and drag,, as 
a piece of railroad iron or car rail. Greasewood and rabbit 
brush is here and there, and cottonwood and willows grow along 
the streams. 

Is the land level? 

The valley is flat-bottomed. Large areas are very level 
and other areas slightly rolling. 

How much capital should one have? 

Perhaps $2000. Few are likely to succeed with less, though 
a man of energy and resource can get on with $1000, finding 
work at good wages for the Reclamation Service. 

How about water for the house? 

Good well water is obtained in the valley at from 10 to 20 
and in a few places 50 feet. 



53 




Virginia City and Mt. Davidson 

What special opportunities are there in the valley? 

Truck farming, orcharding, small fruit growing, nursery and 
seed growing, horse and mule breeding and stock for dairy. 
There is scarcity of skilled labor in all branches. 

What wages are paid? 

Common labor, $2.25 ; skilled, $4 to $5. Farm hands 3ecure 
$45 per month with board. 

Markets and ^^^ order to feel secure in the fruits of 

T* t-iot-k/-»t-fofi*r^f-i their industry the prudent man wants to 

1 ransportation ^^^^^^ ^^j^^^ - markets are open to him. 

Nevada is already headquarters on the Pacific Coast for fine 
mutton and beef, which are sent out by the trainload almost 
every month in the year, and long before her agricultural possi- 
bilities are reached she will be an exporter of all kinds of 
farm produce. What hope has she for reaching the markets of 
the world, will be the question of every inquirer. 

Well, Nevada is as close to tide water as Ohio, Indiana, 
West Virginia, Kentucky or Tennessee. The markets of Europe 
are as close to her as to the farmers of Ohio, mileage on tht^ 



54 



^1 









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J 


^^^^^^ 


BH^ 






1 


1 


P', -« 














^ 


^^^^ 


SMitei. 


IbMkAiU.. 






1 



Mouth of Walker River 

ocean not counting much once your produce is at the dock. Then 
there are the markets of the Orient, which are undeveloped an- 1 
are absorbing more and more of the products of the farms of 
the Western coast states. With the growing towns within her 
own borders, the local market is an excellent one. 

The local markets in a country full of mining camps will 
always be good. A large non-producing population must be fed, 
and miners are well paid and proverbially good buyers. The 
growth both of farms and mines will build towns and cities, 
and here as elsewhere, the secret of State building will be to 
raise the things we need. If the home market is limited, it 
constantly expands with expanding population. Raise the things 
to be consumed ; grow what gold is expended now to buy ; 
produce the food supplies which are shipped in. This is to 
make more labor necessary, and thus the State is builded. Some 
one has got to produce in order to make a State. 

Here the mining camps are part of the established order. 
They will remain. The treasure in the hills will employ thou- 
sands for generations yet to come. Many of these camps are 
located where it is impossible to make a home in the true sense 
of the word, and where everything that is consumed must be 



55 




United States Mint, Carson .City 



bought. This provides a wide market, where prices are good 
and money is always ready to pay for supplies. 

Think of the canned goods shipped in, meats, condensed 
milk, fruits, jams, jellies, the hams and bacon prepared out- 
side, the strawberries raised in California, the pears and apples 
shipped over the mountains, the celery, cauliflower, asparagus, 
that could be produced at home. The home-maker who is enter- 
prising will find in Nevada under the new conditions a large field. 
With its present population it consumes a million pounds of sugar 
annually and produces none. Within ten years the population of 
this State will increase five fold, and will consume the sugar pro- 
duced on 50,000 acres. Bearing apple orchards will find a prof- 
itable market, and pears and peaches will command the highest 
prices. The most stable of all agricultural products are almost 
wholly undeveloped in Nevada and certain sources of farm reve- 
nue are capable of immense expansion before the local market 
will be affected. 



57 




Reno High School 



Transportation is not lacking where it is really required, 
and capital can always be depended upon to fill a demand of this 
sort. The main artery of trade is the overland line of the 
Southern Pacific, formerly the Central Pacific, which enters the 
State by Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, crosses 
the fertile Truckee Valley, the wide plains along Carson Lake 
and follows the Humboldt River from its lowest point up through 
the largest and richest valley in all the arid region to its source 
in the Peoquops. The road has been virtually rebuilt, so that 
it is par excellence the Overland Line, unapproachable in loca- 
tion, with no grades or curves to interfere with the swiftest 
trains and the cheapest service. Shorter roads reach extensive 
mining, stock and agricultural sections, connecting at Palisade 
for Eureka, at Battle Mountain for Austin and the country 
south, at Golconda for the Adelaide Copper Mines, and at Reno 
for Virginia City, Carson City and other points on both the 
Nevada and California side of the State Line. Another road 
goes north nearly 200 miles into the great valleys lying along 
the eastern foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and will 
reach into Southern Oregon. From Hazen in the Carson Sink 
Valley the Nevada and California, a branch of the Southern 
Pacific, runs southward to Independence, on the way con- 
necting with the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad. A branch 
of the Southern Pacific also runs to Fallon from Hazen, 16 miles, 
serving the first town in the irrigated portion of the Carson- 
Truckee project. 



58 




Indian School and Scholars, Carson City 

From Cobie on the main line of the Southern Pacific the 
Nevada Northern is built to Ely, 141 miles south, a thriving 
mining town having two great smelters. These different roads 
afford facilities for immense tracts of country, pouring a tide of 
traffic into the world's markets of almost every kind, wool, 
wheat, sulphur, borax, soda, gold, silver and copper ores, beef, 
mutton and pork, alive and dressed, while supplies of every kind 
are returned at favorable rates. 



The Mining Industry 



We need not recall the past. 

Nevada's history is identified 
with her mines and known to all the world. The great "Com- 
stock Lode" carried the name of Nevada into every land. 
But today, after a long period of depression, there is a revival 
of the mining industry through the discovery of new fields, 
and the wonderful richness and extent of these deposits bids 
fair to overshadow the fame of Comstock and its many millions. 
It comes with the advent of the farmers' day, and just when 
irrigation promises to make the fields fruitful, mines of almost 
fabulous richness cause towns to spring up in the barren hills, 
and home markets are made which the new agriculture will be 
taxed to supply. We can but briefly sketch the new camps. 

59 




Outlet of Lower Twin Lake, Walker Basin 



Tonopah 



This great mining tield was discovered in 1901. 

and its history since development work began 
shows that here is one of the great mineral deposits of the 
world. Young men who went there without a penny were soon 
rich, and none of the original owners have run the gamut from 
poverty to wealth and back again as so many have in other days. 
Such a camp is the poor man's opportunity. Fortunes were made 
by leasing, when the ore had to be hauled sixty miles to the 
nearest railroad and shipped to the coast for reduction. In 
some cases $100,000, in others $400,000 and even $500,000 were 
made inside of eighteen months. A railroad was built and 
proving inadequate was converted into a broad guage, and a town 
of 7,000 sprang up almost in a night and is growing steadily. 

Tonopah is located at the foot of Mount Oddie on the west- 
ern slope of the San Antonio Mountains. The elevation is about 
6,200 feet and the section southwest. It is reached via Hazen on 
the Southern Pacific, the new cut-off connecting with the Carson 
& Colorado Railroad at Churchill. 



61 




Iiosi)ital for Mental Diseases 

Goldfield This camp lies twenty-six miles southeast of Tono- 
pah, and was discovered in November, 1902. Its 
history is but an expansion of the story of the older camp, the 
two probably constiuting the most extensive and valuable 
deposit of the precious metals now known. The two young men 
who located Goldtield had long prospected in the hills of south- 
west Nevada, and the hardships and poverty of their lives were 
forgotten when they "struck it rich" in this new field. The 
mineral zone here lies in the form of a horseshoe and embraces 
about ten square miles. Some of the deposits uncovered within 
this zone have been almost fabulous. In one year and a 
half from its discovery the barren desert had become a field 
of gold, and the production of ore in that time had. exceeded 
three and a half millions. Some of the ore has been of extrn- 
ordinary richness, reaching $30,000 per ton. Perhaps in all the 
history of mining no such quantities of valuable ore have ever 
been raised to the surface with so little efifort. In one case the 
owner took out over $5000 per day by reducing the ore in a 
hand mortar. Ore is sacked and guarded, piled up in great walls 
like sacks of wheat in a warehouse. 



62 




Washoe County County Court House, Reno 

It would seem as if the mother vein of the planet had been 
struck here, and the feeling is general that the mines in this 
district exceed in richness those of any other in the world. 
The ores are free milling, but as depth is reached oxides 
change to sulphides, and this is a decided indication of perma- 
nency. Goldfield is now a city of 9,000 people. 

Bullfrog District ^^"his is a still more recent discovery 

° and lies some cO miles southeast of 

Goldfield. It came into prominence late in 1904. Here, too, 
the ore has proven immensely rich and the ledges of enormous 
size. The values are principally in gold, and every indication 
points to permanency. The towns of Rhyolite, Gold Center and 
Beatty are in this district, which is about 30 by 37 miles hi 
extent, and water is obtained from the Amargosa River. 

Tokop and Hawich are also mining districts, the first 20 
miles south of Goldfield, the latter 70 miles east. The values 
here are extraordinarily high, as in the other fields, assays 
ranging from $4,000 to $20,000 and $30,000 in the different ledges. 
The field is new, but has the same great promise of the older 
camps. 

63 




Indian School, Carson City 

This is new, but has valuable ore bodies, and 
mines enough are in successful operation when 
mills are established to maintain a town of 10,000 people. 



Manhattan 



Ramsey 



Here is a still newer camp, in a strongly .defined 
mineral belt of its own, and supplying rich ore. 
It dates back less than one year. 

The opening of the mineral lands of the Walker River 
Indian Reservation, October 29th, 1906, brought several thousand 
prospectors, and it is certain that valuable mineral ledges known 
to the Indians have been located. The State at this writing is 
alive with mining excitements, and with good reason. We 
cannot name the paying mines or even the sections of country 
producing gold, so many are they. Even the new camps yielding 
rich ore are many, the most promising being Wonder, Johnnie, 
Fairview, Greenwater, Goldyke, Reef Seven, Troughs, Rocky 
Hill, Commonwealth, Orizable. 



A Mineral 
Treasure House 



Nevada is among the most highly min- 
eralized portions of the globe, and its 
development has just begun. The last 



three or four years have witnessed a tremendous broadening 



64 




Elks' Home, Reno 

and enrichment of the mineral zone, and the production as yet 
is from the richer ores casually encountered in the work of 
development. Only the mining engineer and experienced opera- 
tor can form any true conception of what Nevada may be 
expected to produce when the reduction of the vast bodies of 
lower grade ore commences. 

What are called "poor men's camps" because not requiring 
large capital for development, are numerous, and as there are 
large districts where little prospecting has been done the real 
riches of the country remain to make other camps and provide 
fortunes for other men. 



The Farmers' Day 



Mining towns provide a ready market. 

and as they become prosperous and 
permanent they create a demand for the farmers' products. 
Canned goods "go" for a time, but the "camp" soon rests back 
upon the farm for supplies. We dwell upon the farmer's side 
of this question because farmers make the State. Nevada's 
prosperity, if it is to be permanent, must be built around its 
farms. The wealth of California, of Oregon, of Indiana anr^ 

65 






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Pi 







Iowa is l)iiilt upon their agriculture. It takes a rural population 
to make a cit.v, and "there is no country on earth where men 
can find fruitful soil and a congenial climate, where good 
honest farming will not make a successful and prosperous 
State." And while Nevada's mines are an immense storehouse 
of treasure, that generations may not be able to exhaust, this 
stream of golden coin will always be passing into the channels 
of trade and the farmers in return will always have, in the 
many towns and camps, and in the commercial cities which 
grow up around the great industry, a ready and profitable 
market. Mining will increase tenfold in this State in the next 
few years, but the farmer comes first, and after him the factory, 
the mill and the rival railroad. There will be more owners of 
cattle, more stockmen, more beef fattened for market; there 
will be sugar factories and starch factories and creameries, but 
the farmer will be back of all, and the foundation for all. And 
it is our conviction that no State offers him richer opportunities. 

Education in Nevada The settler will find here the 

privileges of school and church 
in every village and district. 

Public Schools , ^^^'^ ^^? everywhere. The early popu- 

lation of this battle-born State were 
firm believers in the public school. "Each village, town or 
incorporated city," the law says, constitutes a school district, 
and other districts in country places may be formed where 
desired by the Boards of County Commissioners. The money 
to support the school system comes from four sources — a State 
school tax, levied annually, interest on the State School Fund 
(invested), a County school tax, and such special taxes as may 
be needed. Each district must have at least six months of 
school. 

In addition there are Parish Schools and Boarding Schools, 
a State Normal School, and the University High School, or 
preparatory department. 

The State University This is the head of the School 

•' system of the State, and is located 

at Reno, near the western border of the State. 

It now has a well-equipped plant of eleven substantial 
buildings, well adapted to the uses to which they are put. The 
corps of instructors numbers thirty, Jos. E. Stubbs, D. D., being 
president, and instruction is given in the College of Agriculture, 
under which are the Schools of Agriculture and Domestic 
Science ; in the College of Arts and Science, embracing the 
Schools of Liberal Arts, General Science and Commerce, and 

67 




Big Coiionwoud on ine Old i:,mjgiant Trail, Carson Sink Valley 



ill the College of Applied Science, which comprise the Schools 
of Mining and Metallurgy, Mechanical Engineering and Civil 
Engineering. The School of Agriculture is a complete college 
course in agricultural science and in view of the increasing im- 
portance and value to the country of general, or mixed farming, 
including dairying and stock-raising, the work of the College of 
Agriculture will be of the utmost service to the growing State. 
Connected with the University and supported by the general 
government is the Experiment Station. This is presided over 
by a corps of specialists, trained for the specific work of agri- 
cultural investigation, for which these stations are established. 
Valuable work is being done by the station in Nevada, and 
the work is instrumental in upbuilding the agricultural pur- 
suits of the State, which is here as elsewhere the bottom and 
permanent industry of society. The farmer is the home-maker, 
and "the success of the home-maker is but another name for 
the building up of the State." 

69 



3^ 



r I I ^^ ^^ '^' ' ■■iBi 




Closely related to the School of Agriculture is the School 
of Domestic Arts and Science, which is designed, President 
Stubbs says, to give the young women an opportunity for scien- 
tific and practical knowledge in the noblest of all arts and 
sciences — housewifery. As a young woman in the regular work 
of the University may obtain the degree of Bachelor of Arts or 
Bachelor of Sciences, and have with it at the same time an ade- 
quate knowledge of the fundamental branches of housekeeping, 
she is prepared in the highest and most practical way to help 
build the home. 

The engineering courses of the University are among the 
most prominent and most useful courses of education on the 
Coast. They comprise the School of Mining and Metallurgy, 
the School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Civil 
Engineering. The lines of study are fully up to the requirements 
of the engineering profession in its several departments. The 
School of Mining and Metallurgy is the oldest and one of the 
best known in the University, and any student completing this 
course has a good, strong foundation for his future work in the 
profession of mining and metallurgy. 

A mining building to cost $100,000, the gift of John W. 
Mackay, is to be erected at once. 

The School of Civil Engineering requires more w^ork in 
surveying than any. other of the engineering" schools, and in the 

70 



technical subjects of the profession it aims to qualify the student 
for success. 

Lincoln County ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ Nevada Legislature passed 

a law creating a "Commission em- 
powered to locate and establish an experiment station in the 
semi-tropic section of the State." 

The Station has not yet been established, but the action of 
the Legislature calls attention to a fact not widely known, viz. : 
that Nevada has a county where the climate is quite semi-tropic 
and where every famous fruit of California will flourish. There 
is little water as yet and few people, but the seedless raisin is 
produced, the apricot, three crops of figs per year, pomegranates, 
the orange, and the lemon. The county is Lincoln, in the south- 
western corner of the State, and not far from Rhyolite, Bullfrog 
and other prominent mining camps. With the development of 
water will come a great fruit center, but we call attention to it 
now in order to emphasize the opportunity for fruit culture in 
this State. There is a fortune in apples for the man who, guided 
by the Experiment Station of the University, will plant the right 
kind and in the right place. The recurrence of frequent frost 
periods makes the selection of locality a matter of great im- 
portance. There is here, as in every fruit-growing section, places 
comparatively frostless, and to find such a place and plant ctn 
apple adapted to the region, and then wisely care for it, would 
mean a good income for life. 

The State now is very prosperous, and is growing rapidly in 
population, perhaps more rapidly than any other State in the 
Union, and it is a time for the farmer and the fruit-grower to 
"get next" to the favorable conditions in Nevada. Under the 
stimulus of the Reclamation Service and the Experiment Station 
of the University, both of which offer expert advice to the be- 
ginner in this State, the opportunity to get started could not be 
better. 

The tillable area is limited, the markets are home markets, 
and the men who produce what Nevada must consume will be 
strictly "in it." There will always be few farmers and fruit- 
growers in Nevada, and these must feed a large population at 
prices that will always be good. 

Societv Nevada is not on "the frontier." The railroad and 

^ the march of progress have pushed that old line into 

the Pacific. One is not asked here as once in the West, "Where 
do you hail from, and why did you have to leave?" Here is 
peaceful and orderly society, churches and schools, a State Uni- 
versity, libraries, newspapers, clubs and societies, and all the 

71 



appliances of civilization. Churches are found in cities and 
towns on railroad lines, and most of the well-known denomina- 
tions are represented. The work of nurturing moral and reli- 
gious life is extended to country places wherever possible, and 
communities cherish a reverence for things sacred, and cultivate 
the refinements which belong to the nobler side of life perhaps as 
assidiously as in the older and more populous States. Yet life 
is measured in the West by unconventional standards. Each 
person stands on his or her own merit according to true worth. 
Rich and poor meet together, and men in authority are not 
hedged about by any assumption of superior dignity. College men 
and women are as readily found as elsewhere, and quiet homes 
and the amenities of refined society are as much in evidence in 
Nevada as in the older States. No man need hesitate to bring his 
family here for fear that they will miss good society and refine- 
ment which this carries. Society is as gentle and noble in man- 
ners and opinions as in most communities — if we seek out such 
society, while there is room for each one to grow as an oak does 
upon the plains, untrammeled by that crowding of other lives 
which destroys freedom and mars individuality. Room means 
power. 

p,. Do not expect us to skip this. We cannot get 

L/limate away from the weather ; it is a staple topic of 

conversation in all lands. Even books have a climate, and every 
man has his own clouds and sunshine. Much of the comfort of 
life turns about climate. It means health of man and vigor of 
plant. Nevada has an atmosphere of comfort. There are but 
few disagreeable days in the year. A little snow falls lightly in 
the valleys but only lies a few days, often but a few hours. 
The rainfall is slight, being from four to six inches annually. 
These arid lands are lands of sunshine. They are not neces- 
sarily hot. Nevada is not and the days are never sultry. But 
the skies are clear almost always, the air full of ozone, and com- 
fort and stimulus is in every breath. The elevation is sufficient 
to give a light air, and the dryness is favorable for many throat 
affections, while the temperature is very uniform. For malaria 
Nevada has a specific in her rarefied atmosphere, and for the 
invalid new life in her constant invitation to out of doors. 

Pulmonary troubles are unknown, and strange to say no 
case of hydrophobia or sunstroke has ever been recorded. Asthma 
seems to cease instantly the air is breathed, and many of the 
ills of the crowded city or the rainy regions are unheard of. 
The State abounds in hot springs of all degrees of temperature. 
Some of them are lying unowned and .almost unknown, while 
others are fitted up as pleasure and health resorts, and are very 
attractive to both sick and well. 

73 



There are few regions of the world where general health 
eonditions are hetter than in Nevada. There are days in spring 
when winds are high, but they purify the air, while making 
a few hours unpleasant. There are probably 300 perfectly clear 
or fair days in the year — a condition not often equaled, except 
in the higher altitudes, but little snow falls, and in the valleys 
and on the plains it lies but a few days, as the air is very dry 
and it is never very cold or very hot. 

The air of the winter is crisp, dry, bracing, and not many 
days are stormy or overcast. In Scotland it is said to take a 
good many foul days to breed one fair day, but in Nevada the 
statement is exactly reversed. This great upland region is one 
of much sunshine and little atmospheric disturbance. 

nr»r>nrtnnitw Shakespeare speaks of "a tide in the affairs 

fortune." The turn of the tide has come in Nevada, and it is 
"up" to the man who has a new home to make to take advan- 
tage of it. The long period of depression is past and the future 
seems to be assured. The man or woman who can do any one 
thing well, who has a purpose in life, and the health, energy and 
ability to make a useful effort in almost any direction can here 
do well. Every county in the State has undeveloped resources, 
open lands, mines to be found by effort, wages at the best rate 
going, for farm work, for all sorts of trades. With a climate 
famous for its sunshine, an air free from malaria, with rivers 
rapid and deep, capable of furnishing unlimited power, a .soil 
rich in phosphates, mountains seamed with veins of ore, valleys 
that have attracted the attention of both the capitalist and the 
government as promising fields for investment in reclamation 
enterprises, the man who moves to Nevada now will find her 
material interests just trembling on the rise. 

Who will be in at the turn of the tide, established, pros- 
perous, contented? Not the man who waits to see what is to 
come of the awakened interest in this inter-mountain region. 
Not the man who waits to see what irrigation under direction 
of the national government is to do for the State. 

The man who comes to Nevada to-day, wide-awake, ener- 
getic, with a little money to his credit, can make of dry land 
fruitful fields. He can buy "desert" and sell "garden." Or on a 
few acres of irrigated land he can raise more than he was accus- 
tomed to on a quarter section in the land of Uncertainty. West- 
ern Kansas has had four waves of incoming settlers. The fourth 
remain, because they secured water for the dry land, and made 
themselves independent. It will be so here. The men who get 
in now will be the contented men — the "solid citizens" who con- 
stitute everywhere the abiding strength of the State. 

75 



The thing that should attract attention to Nevada is room 
to grow. The area is large; the population sparse. This allows 
first choice in many localities. It means if you are equal to 
it, wise selection, and subsequent increase in value. The first 
comers are the fortunate ones. This is the history of every 
land; it will be so here. A few are at vantage points to-day, 
but the great area is yet to be distributed. Fortunes are in the 
land yet to be covered by the irrigation ditch, and the men who 
are on the ground, alert and watchful, will profit by their fore- 
sight. Here will be found the "unearned increment" which has 
enriched so many, the legitimate increase of values from the 
developed resources of the surrounding country. Will you 
share in it? 

Nevada Towns We append a brief reference to a few 

of the prmcipal towns of Nevada and, 
save Carson, the capital city, and Virginia City, these are ail 
on the line of the Southern Pacific. Other towns are in the 
interior and southern end of the State; mining towns like Austin, 
Pioche, Ely, Eureka, and the newer towns in the mining districts, 
as well as the rural towns of Genoa, Gardnerville, Yerington, and 
others we have not room save to mention. 

RENO is the principal commercial center of Nevada. It 
is the county seat of Washoe County. Its population is 12,000, 
and it has a vigorous and progressive spirit. Its business blocks 
are well built and it keeps pace with modern improvements. 
It is the junction point of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad 
for Carson and Virginia Cities and other points south, and of 
the Nevada, California and Oregon northward. Reno is situated 
on the Truckee River, the Truckee Meadows are close by, has 
much good farming land tributary, and is within easy reach of 
the richest mining area in the west. The city has telephone, 
gas, electric light and street car service; eight newspapers (two 
dailies), three banks, $1,500,000 capital and $3,500,000 deposits; 
ten churches, two theatres, three lumber yards, two planing 
mills, five machine shops. 

The streets are broad and level with up-to-date pavement 
in the business section, good sewerage and an abundance of pure 
mountain water. The city is growing rapidly, has a mild cli- 
mate, and is a pleasant place of residence. The State University 
is located here. 

SPARKS, just east of Reno, had no existence a few years 
ago, but the machine, car and other shops, have been removed 
there from Wadsworth and it is now the divisional termini and a 
growing, thriving town. It has shops, warehouses, and comfort- 
able homes. It is rapidly gaining the attributes of a city and has 
an asured future before it. 

76 



CARSON CITY is the State capital. It is a beautiful little 
city of about 5000 people, lying in Eagle Valley on Carson River. 
Stages run from here to Lake Tahoe and other summer resorcs 
in the mountains. The public buildings of Carson are creditable 
to the State. The United States branch mint is located here ; 
the Capitol is in the center of a plaza, surrounded by an iron 
fence. There are good hotels, churches, schools and daily news- 
papers. It is the oldest town in the State, is tastefully adornod 
with shade trees and has an abundance of good water. It is the 
center of a large trade for all parts of southwestern Nevada 
and Mono and Inyo counties of California. Carson is on the 
Virginia and Truckee Railroad. 

VIRGINIA CITY. This famous place is on the slope of 




Street in Carson City 

Mt. Davidson, at an elevation of 6,200 feet, built along the side 
of the mountain. It has one main street with many steep cross 
streets. In its prosperous days it was a vortex of immense 
activity, and its mines under the city were treasure houses of 
wealth almost beyond reckoning. The Consolidated Virginia and 
California mines cleared each about $1,080,000 monthly for many 




Humboldt Station 



niuiiths. The Ophir also paid fabulous dividends for years. The 
products of these mines at one time excited the world. The city 
has declined in population, but the mines are being drained, 
and an era of new life is approaching. With modern machinery 
there may be many years of activity in these famous old mines. 
HAZEN. On the main line of the Southern Pacific, a new 
town made by the junction of the Nevada and California, which 
connects with the Tonopah railroad. ■ It has about 300 people. 
The offices of the Reclamation Service are near by, on govern- 
ment land. 

FALLON has been created by settlers under the Reclama- 
tion project, and has 800 people. It is in the heart of the lower 
Carson Valley, and is rapidly growing. The Southern Pacific 
reaches it by a branch road, and a good water system is under 
construction and an electric plant is in operation. The tributary 
mining country includes Fairview, East Gate, Sand Springs and 
Eagleville 

LOVELOCK. This town has a good outlook. Its alfalfa 
fields, its sheep and cattle feeding, the mining districts tributary 
to it insure a prosperous future. There are many highly culti- 
vated farms and gardens in the vicinitv. The town has a popu- 
lation of 2.500. 



78 



^ 



HUMBOLDT Station is famous among travelers. As an 
example of what can be done in the way of reclamation, its 
beautiful green and handsome groves have charmed the tired 
traveler ever since the lirst Overland train came across the plains. 
It is a daily proof of what water will do in Nevada, and suggests 
unsuspected qualities in the soil and the air. 

WINNEMUCCA is the county seat of Humboldt County 
and supports two daily newspapers, fine schools, churches, lodges 
and many stores, shops, etc. Its trade reaches far into Oregon 
and covers stock raising, mining and kindred industries. The 
old town is in the lowland fronting the station, and is hidden 
from sight until you approach the bank and look over. There 
are 1,800 inhabitants. 

GOLCONDA has hot springs which in any eastern State 
would attract invalids and pleasure-seekers by the thousands. 
The benefits derived from the use of these waters has been 
proven, by many patients afflicted with rheumatism, nervous 
and other diseases. Fine hotel is connected with the baths. 
Immense deposits of copper ore lie nearby, and extensive fur- 
naces have been built for their reduction. Fine ranches on the 
river, and cattle and sheep ranges in the hills add to the im- 
portance of the town. 

BATTLE MOUNTAIN lies in a productive plain and is 
connected with the country south by a railroad nearly a hundred 
miles long. Galena, Pittsburgh, Copper Canyon and other rich 
mining districts contribute to Battle Mountain's business activity. 

PALISADE is the end of the Eureka and Palisade Railway, 
which has a heavy tonnage of ore from the silver and lead mines 
to the Salt Lake smelters. Pine Valley, Diamond Valley and 
other agricultural sections lie along the line. 

CARLIN is an important railroad station with shops, and 
here the trains change engines and crews. A handsome library 
is maintained by the employees with the assistance of the com- 
pany. 

ELKO is the county seat for a little empire over a hundred 
miles square, covering one of the richest regions in the State. 
Many handsome valleys and rich mines abound, and the town 
is responding with a substantial and permanent growth. Its 
future is assured, and with its fine climate, excellent schools and 
churches it promises to be one of the best home towns in the 
country. Elko to-day has 2,900 people. 

DEETH is a trading center supported by Star Valley, Ruby 
Valley and extensive ranch country south of the track, with 
good mining prospects and an immense cattle country to the 
north. 

70 



/f9>^^ 



WELLS has been built up by the trade of Clover Valley. '' 
together with the mines at Cherry Creek and a large market for 
supplies covering nearly the whole of White Pine County. The 
Salmon River and other mining districts on the north reach 
into Idaho. Wells is also headquarters for the great Sparks- 
Harrell Cattle Company, whose range extends into Idaho on ths 
north and Utah on the east. 

Many of the little towns lying along the road seem rather 
insignificant to the passerby, but they have a substantial reason 
for their existence, and there is hardly a store or shop along the 
line that does not have a profitable business. It is a fact that 
in proportion to numbers and to capital invested, the Nevada 
trade has made more little fortunes for their owners than any 
similar investment in more showy quarters have ever done. 



Table of Contents 



Paj 

Nevada's New Era 

How It Appears 

Its Size 

Phy ical Aspects 

What It Will Grow 

The Cereals 

Seeds and Vegetables 

Alfalfa 

Native Grasses 

Culture of Sugar Beet 

Fruit Growing 

Stock Raising 

Creamery Industry 

Experiment Farm 

Irrigation in Nevada .... 

President Roosevelt 

What Government is Doing 
Government Guarantee . . . 

Character of Lands 

Extent of Public Lands . . . 

Homestead Rights 

Private Lands 



:e 
4 
7 
S 
9 
13 
15 
17 
18 
19 
19 
23 
25 
29 
31 
33 
35 
89 
41 
42 
43 
43 
45 



Page 

Cost of Water 45 

Cost of Land 45 

Individual Holdings 47 

Irrigation Not New 49 

Questions and Answers ... 51 
Markets and Transporta- 
tion 54 

Mining Industry 59 

Tonopah 61 

Goldfield 62 

Bullfrog District 63 

Manhattan and Ramsey... 64 

Mineral Treasure House.. 64 

The Farmers' Day 65 

Education and Schools.... 67 

State University . 67 

Lincoln Countv 71 

Society '^1 

Climate 7^ 

Opportunity "5 

Nevada Towns 76 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





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